Edinburgh/Lothians Tree Surgery Market Research

[jonin69]

Hi,

 

I'm looking for advice on what kind of demand there is for tree surgeons in the Edinburgh/ Lothian area?  Is their room for new businesses to start up? I am trying to decide if the up front investment in gear and courses is going to be worth it in this area. Is tree surgery a declining or expanding business in the Edinburgh / Lothians area?

 

I also appreciate experience and not just tickets are important. But in terms of starting up your own business what tickets are essential for obtaining Public Liability Insurance? 

 

Any advice much appreciated. 

[Big J]

We lived just outside Edinburgh until late July when we moved to Devon. We lived there 13 years, running a sawmill for 8 and doing some forestry work too. 

 

Tricky one to say really as there are some very well established and extremely professional tree companies in the Edinburgh area. TD Trees and Frontier Forestry spring to mind. 

 

I'd always advise considering working in forestry rather than tree surgery as there is huge demand for hardworking, skilled cutters. On long days, you'll gross as much as £1000 a week, but you've no quoting, machine maintenance (apart from saws) or yard costs. You also don't have to deal with customers (a big plus) and you'll always be in work. 

 

Even if you don't plan to continue in forestry long term (and I say this not knowing anything about your experience or tickets), it's worth doing at least 6 months of production cutting as it'll give you a solid foundation for tree surgery and put you in a class above much of your competition. The best tree surgeons nearly always have forestry experience too.

 

Good luck

[htb]

You don't need tickets to get PL insurance, but you may if you need to claim

[Rough Hewn]

We lived just outside Edinburgh until late July when we moved to Devon. We lived there 13 years, running a sawmill for 8 and doing some forestry work too. 
 
Tricky one to say really as there are some very well established and extremely professional tree companies in the Edinburgh area. TD Trees and Frontier Forestry spring to mind. 
 
I'd always advise considering working in forestry rather than tree surgery as there is huge demand for hardworking, skilled cutters. On long days, you'll gross as much as £1000 a week, but you've no quoting, machine maintenance (apart from saws) or yard costs. You also don't have to deal with customers (a big plus) and you'll always be in work. 
 
Even if you don't plan to continue in forestry long term (and I say this not knowing anything about your experience or tickets), it's worth doing at least 6 months of production cutting as it'll give you a solid foundation for tree surgery and put you in a class above much of your competition. The best tree surgeons nearly always have forestry experience too.
 
Good luck [emoji3]

100% what J says about forestry.
[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

[jfc]

I do the occasional job in Edinburgh, I have to price in 3hrs travel there and back and I still get the job. Must be quite expensive running an outfit there, lots of traffic and limited chip drop off, having a yard there must be expensive. Of course there are lots of well off folk to employ you.

[stihlmadasever]

Some very established companies are active all over the central belt of scotland.

Cut above tree services,central tree surgeons and a few others spring to mind.Its already cut throat competative.

If it were me, its not an area id set up in

[drinksloe]

I also guess from ur post u don't have any tickets or experience yet??? (ignore this if i've picked up wromg end of stick)

 

Plenty of good advice above.

Really its not the type of industry u should be setting up on ur own after just gaining ur tickets.

 

So much that needs to be learnt from experience about actually doing the job never mind pricing them etc

I'd 2nd wot J and others have said about forestry work, low overheads etc even compared to a SE climber no ropes/harnesses etc and LOLER every 6 months.

But if u really want to do arb work u really must work for another company 1st and watch learn not just the climbing but how long it takes u to do certain jobs

[jonin69]

Thanks for all the input. I really appreciate this feedback for which you have all given me plenty to think about. Cheers folks.